Combat Press Kickboxing Rankings: March 2016

As kickboxing looks to establish itself from both boxing and MMA with GLORY, K-1, Lion Fight and Kunlun Fighting Championship, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media.

Every month, Combat Press will rank each weight class from heavyweight to featherweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings.

The numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last month.

Heavyweight

Rico Verhoeven (1)

Benjamin Adegbuyi (2)

Jahfarr Wilnis (3)

Errol Zimmerman (4)

Hesdy Gerges (5)

Zabit Samedov (6)

Andrey Gerasimchuk (7)

Jamal Ben Saddik (8)

Anderson Silva (9)

Badr Hari (10)

February was a relatively quiet month for the big men. Third-ranked Jahfarr Wilnis captured Enfusion gold with a decision win over Ismael Lazaar at Enfusion Live 37. Brazilian Anderson “Braddock” Silva got back in the win column with a decision nod over Maurice Green at GLORY 27 in Chicago. Both Wilnis and Silva maintained their spots in the rankings.

There’s a new man atop the middleweight ranks, but it took one of the strangest outcomes in recent memory for it to happen. Canada’s Simon Marcus captured GLORY gold in Chicago, but only after Russian Artem Levin quit. Yes, quit. Levin was deducted two points for clinching and was on the receiving end of a questionable knockdown. With no path to victory except a knockout, the former titleholder opted to leave the ring. The win for Marcus helped erase the pair’s draw at GLORY 21 last year that many scored in his favor. Also in action at the event was third-ranked Joe Schilling, who cruised to a decision win over Mike Lemaire. The most impressive performance of the month, however, goes to Colorado’s Dustin Jacoby. The former college football player-turned-fighter captured his third straight GLORY tournament with a pair of knockouts victories. Jacoby earned the first crack at the newly crowned Marcus and moves all the way up to No. 6 in our rankings.

Welterweight

Nieky Holzken (1)

Artur Kyshenko (2)

Murthel Groenhart (3)

Raymond Daniels (4)

Karim Ghajji (5)

Yoann Kongolo (6)

Hicham El Gaoui (7)

Paul Daley (8)

Bai Jinbin (9)

Karapet Karapetyan (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Lightweight

Robin van Roosmalen (1)

Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (2)

Andy Ristie (3)

Giorgio Petrosyan (4)

Yodsanklai Fairtex (5)

Davit Kiria (6)

Marat Grigorian (7)

Buakaw Banchamek (8)

Dzhabar Askerov (9)

Josh Jauncey (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in kickboxing action this past month, but there was some activity. Top-ranked Robin van Roosmalen made his MMA debut at FFC 22 in Greece and earned a second-round stoppage. Legend Buakaw Banchamek was in the ring at Kunlun Fight 38, but it was in a staged, choreographed display of Muay Boran. Since neither was a kickboxing match, there are no changes to the rankings.

Featherweight

Kaew Fairtex (1)

Masaaki Noiri (2)

Minoru Kimura (3)

Yasuomi Soda (4)

Serhiy Adamchuk (5)

Gabriel Varga (6)

Mosab Amrani (7)

Yuta Kubo (8)

Massaro Glunder (9)

Ilias Bulaid (10)

Only 10th-ranked Ilias Bulaid was in the ring over the past month. He topped Edson Fortes at Enfusion Live 37 on the scorecards.

Pound-For-Pound

Nieky Holzken (1)

Robin van Roosmalen (3)

Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (4)

Giorgio Petrosyan (5)

Simon Marcus (-)

Artem Levin (2)

Gokhan Saki (6)

Rico Verhoeven (7)

Kaew Fairtex (8)

Takeru (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Andy Ristie (10)

The bizarre outcome in Chicago had an impact on the pound-for-pound rankings as well. The new champion Marcus enters the rankings at No. 5, while Levin drops to No. 6. As a result, previously ranked Andy Ristie falls out of the top 10.

Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 18 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed twice in their new division.

About The Author

Rob Tatum has been covering combat sports since 2009. His work has appeared on Invicta FC, The MMA Corner, Bleacher Report MMA, MMA DieHards and MMAinterviews. Prior to covering combat sports, Rob ran his own music website from 2002-2009. Beyond his writing, Rob has trained in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. He is a Colorado native that works as a mechanical engineer during the day. In his free time, Rob enjoys watching sports, playing music and working on cars.